Keeping RA on the back burner of life

Remodeling Lows

Five years ago, I embarked on a remodeling plan. It took effort. It took concentration. It took determination. And most of all, it took sweat.

I sculpted. I trimmed. I toned. I selected a new veneer to put on the finished product.

The journey was awesome. And I had so much fun doing it. Watching with ultimate satisfaction the almost daily changes as they gradually occurred with regular frequency over a period of exciting months.

But enough about me.

Now I’m remodeling the guest bath. And the difference in the experience is astronomical.

There is sweat, but it’s mostly the result of a blood pressure spike every time they show up late for a day’s work. Or worse, fail to show up at all. Without a word.

I asked the demolition/rebuilder man to let me know when he was coming over and to not just appear at my door. He said OK. The next morning he called me from my own driveway. I had to laugh. Maybe I should have told him to call me from his driveway, you know, before heading over to my house.

The project is going at a sloth’s pace. It was supposed to be a one-week job, Boss Lady said. She did my kitchen nine years ago. Beautiful. Looks like the day it was finished. So, I entrusted my bathroom to her.

Our house is old with its own little quirks. There’s always surprises when we start digging around, so I cleared two weeks on my calendar. When we entered the third week my patience began to run thin. In two days, it will be a month since the job began. We’re halfway there. Only ten more things to do!

Boss Lady called me yesterday, told me she’d misunderstood. He was on vacation this week. Not next week, as she’d told me when promising it would be done this week. Her promises now have echoes.

We threw in the towel and called in reinforcements. Tomorrow an electrician and a plumber come. I will have a working sink once again. Even that turned into a mission when she made the vanity beautifully wrong for the vanity top I had.

Right now I wish I was with my Costa Rica roving,
tree climbing, travel-writing daughter.
She looks so carefree.

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6 thoughts on “Remodeling Lows”

It’s beautiful, Irma! Love the itle accent over the tub, and that floor is awesome! Looks like smoothed stone. I hope you’ll post photos when it’s finally all finished. I remember well the frustrations of remodeling. I can’t help but shake my head–it seems that contractors everywhere are flaky and unreliable. I always wondered how they could make a living when they didn’t show up or showed up late so often…

My thoughts are with you as you finish this project, hopefully before Thanksgiving. Sending a warm hug your way. 😉

How lovely! Your floor looks a lot like the one we put in our bathroom when we had to replace all of our floors a couple of years ago (so yes, I think it’s fabulous). But I totally get the frustration of dealing with contractors. Whenever there was a problem, my husband, who is an architect and works with contractors every day, would tell them, “You don’t want to have this conversation with my wife” (meaning that dealing with him would be a lot more pleasant …) I hope you are doing well and that all this remodeling will be done and behind you soon.

Hi, Carla. Yes, frustration galore. One day, at the end of three weeks, my husband worked from home. I’d blown up that morning at Bathroom Guy and Boss Lady both. I thought he’d stayed home to keep an eye on him and make sure he was actually being productive, but now that I think back, I think he stayed home to keep an eye on me!

Reading this makes me happy that we’ve put off remodeling the kitchen. Just don’t have the energy after redoing a sun room that got damaged over the winter by some storms. Besides we are thinking we’d rather install an outdoor shower. More affordable and you can stand there and say “ahhhhhhh”

My preference would be a Jacuzzi. I tried to get a tub with jets, but it was too labor-intensive and too much money! An outdoor hot tub is cheaper. It’s on my list of things to do. For now this project is over!